Sunday, June 27, 2010

China in Africa

The latest on the China-Africa relationship. The article talks about the "trade not aid" approach to Africa that China has been pioneering. "Beijing doesn't do gifts; it does deals." The IMF doesn't like that the countries it's making loans to has another source of funding, though, and some argue that African nations are selling out their resources for cheap. There is a danger to having a colonizer-colony relationship, and there is already resentment of the Chinese from the local population. It will be critical to make sure Chinese companies are dealing with African countries fairly, for a fair price, and for there to be enough benefits to the local populations. In other words, after infrastructure is completed, the local population should be able to be technically proficient enough to maintain and use it and also be in charge of the management.